Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Capcom Retail Store Inadvertently Displays Mega Man Fan-Art

This is an image of Capcom's upcoming e-Capcom retail store in Tokyo's Odaiba area. It's grand opening kicks off April 14, and will carry all sorts of goods and paraphernalia.

The store's interior is decked out with artwork and displays from the company's more recognizable brands, and while Mega Man is present and accounted for, the art used to promote his products isn't official: it's unauthorized fan-art.

Read on for the full story.

Eagled eye fans were quick to notice something wasn't quite right with the Mega Man art displayed in the store's back left corner:

In actuality, this is piece belongs to none other than CAP Kobun; a talented Mega Man aficionado well known for his authentic art style. So authentic, in fact, Capcom mistakenly though it was theirs. You'll find the original piece below, drawn in 2008 to commemorate the release of Mega Man 9:

Oops.

Granted, the store's grand opening is a little ways off. There's an adequate amount of time to either rectify the mistake, or give credit where credit is due. CAP Kobun, meanwhile, is flattered. There's no hard feelings, but he does hope Capcom will ask permission next time.

As much as some childish MM fans want to boycott Capcom and see them burn, the opening of this store suggests Capcom is prospering financially. That's a good thing after all, for MegaMan. I'm glad to hear about this.

@Dhylec: Just because Capcom has enough money to open this store doesn't mean they're going to utilize Megaman in a way that unambiguously proves that they still care about the series. But at the very least, it and Capcom's other series aren't currently at risk of falling into some dead-company legal void. So I guess it's mostly a good thing in the technical sense?

Ironically, since Capcom owns the rights to Rockman/Megaman and probably also his "likeness," CAP Kobun should have been the one asking for permission to "publish" (on the interwebs) artwork featuring a character he doesn't have rights to. Just because in most cases, companies turn a blind eye to "fan works" of copyright infringement (as that makes for bad PR), it doesn't make said infringement technically permissable.-ud

Oooooyeeeee... What... the hell... is wrong with Capcom's little subsidiary companies? First, the Mega Man 10 website uses artwork from the then-same-named game by MegaPhilX and company, now this? I'm sure there's been several more instances in-between.

Capcom. What the hell. I know you're not the only ones doing this (hello, IGN!), but still. Capcom. Jesus.

I hope fans ask a lot for Rockman DASH content until the store goes out of merchandise (if they aren't expensive, of course), and other Mega Man series too like T-shirts of X using Hadouken and ShadeMan with Resident Evil zombies dancing Thriller! XD